This Friday...

We'll be debuting a new song at this show!

Also, this is our first time playing at The Old Rockhouse - located on 7th Street in Historic Soulard - and we're just as excited that there is yet another place to see great ALL AGES shows in St. Louis. If you haven't been there yet, this is your chance!

This will also be our last hometown show for a while, as we'll be taking time off after our UK / European tour to work on a new record.

Join us in the celebration!

UK / EUROPEAN TOUR DATES ANNOUNCED!

We'll be traveling across the pond in February and March for a string of dates.

We look forward to making new friends!

Feb 18 2010 8:00P	Captain’s Rest	Glasgow
Feb 19 2010 8:00P	Uncle Albert’s	Middlesbrough
Feb 20 2010 8:00P	Stealth vs Rescued	Nottingham
Feb 21 2010 8:00P	Firebug	Leicester
Feb 22 2010 8:00P	The Flapper	Birmingham
Feb 23 2010 8:00P	Buffalo Bar	London
Feb 25 2010 8:00P	Jam	Brighton
Feb 26 2010 8:00P	Bullingdon	Oxford
Feb 27 2010 8:00P	Unit	Southampton
Feb 28 2010 8:00P	Brudenell Social Club	Leeds
Mar 4 2010 8:00P	Blå	Oslo
Mar 5 2010 8:00P	Blæst	Trondheim
Mar 8 2010 8:00P	Café Video	Gent
Mar 9 2010 8:00P	Hafenklang	Hamburg
Mar 11 2010 8:00P	Rotown	Rotterdam
Mar 12 2010 8:00P	TBA	Esch-Sur-Alzette
Mar 13 2010 8:00P	Flèche d’Or	Paris

Hey, St. Louis!

Spend the day after X-mas with us and our friends, The Natural Selection and The Makeshift Gentlemen.

The Firebird
Saturday, December 26th
Doors @ 7:30
Show@ 8:30
$8 (21+) $10 (-21)


We'll be playing some songs we haven't played in a while and some that we've never played live before.

For more information, go here.

We hope to see you there!

Coming soon to a music blog near you

Our buddy James complied some of Fugazi's best stage banter into a collection he entitled "Having Fun on Stage with Fugazi." As he explains it "Many people cite the scene when Guy calls a particularly macho audience member an "Ice Cream Eating Motherfucker" as a highlight of Instrument... I knew that there would potentially be very many Ice Cream Eating Motherfuckers out there to have been admonished by the band. Also, I found that the band had natural aplomb for jokes and storytelling."

I can't help but feel icredibly vindicated hearing Guy and Ian calling out douche bag moshers for not knowing a good dance move if it floor punched them in the face. If only we had this while touring with hardcore bands...

On an unrelated note, how are your Best of 2009 lists coming along?
Let's share after Christmas, ok?

Well, I guess we're gonna have to take control.

Hey, everyone. We apologize for the lack of updating recently. It's been a long couple of months for all of us. We've all been working diligently to keep up the momentum of SMD, while at the same time, teaching and having to learn old songs for a new member. And on top of that, we've still been trying to find ways for the four of us to make money personally, so we can keep affording to do what we've always wanted to do. It's been a test of will at times, but I can honestly say that having Nathan around has been such a breath of fresh air. He's a positive attribute to this group, and I can't imagine it being any other way.

ANYWAY...Things are going REALLY well around here. With this year coming to a close, some exciting things are in store for us next year. Most notably, we've recently been picked up by The CODA Agency, in the UK, and our first trip overseas will be taking place in February/March. We can't even begin to describe how stoked and ready we are to finally be making this journey.

The other great piece of news is that "The Loud Wars" will finally be released on vinyl, via Hello Sir Records, just in time for that UK/European tour.

With the exception of a couple shows here and there, we'll be hibernating over the winter and working on new songs so we can record a new album by next year. We're all looking forward to what the four of us can create, while having an appropriate amount of time to take an objective look at what our strengths and weaknesses have been over the past seven years of us being a band. A lot of things have happened and a lot has changed in that time, and hopefully we can harness all of those feelings and turn it into something that we can all be proud of.

Speaking of shows, we're got several of them coming up. Check them out.

We'll try to keep up with this here blog, alright?

Alright.

and I'm so disconnected....I'm never gonna check back in

I can recall looking down and realizing last night as our last song was ending that it wasn't my butt on the drum throne; it was my feet. Maybe things got a little out of hand. eh..maybe not. Its been one hectic week.

Since we last talked, we've had some of our best shows in Boston and Troy, NY, we've made tons of new friends and we played a show in a bowling alley where they have tiny balls and mini pins. We also got paid 7 more dollars at CMJ '09 than we made @ CMJ '08!...maybe that should read: We made 7 dollars @ CMJ '09. (Sin)emechanica also served us pretty hard yesterday in an EPIC drive-by mooning. Flawless execution...

Oops, almost forgot.... our van's front end got destroyed last night by a car in front of the venue. Everyone is ok. Griffin was behind the wheel and Aaron saw the whole thing so I'll let them give you more details. After realizing G was ok I became a private dick taking lots of candid photos of the other driver removing several scandalous items from his vehicle's steering column and trunk before and after the cops arrived.



Luckily after abandoning gear and eating a moral boosting Denny's meal, I was able to sleep last night in Double Chinemechanica's spaceship outside the motel where the other 8 guys crammed into one room. We're currently figuring out our van's situation. We're fortunate enough to have insurance and to be in the best of company, so we will not be cancelling any shows on this tour! All trouble aside, this has been one of my favorite trips in a very long time. See you tonight Columbia, SC.

p.s. to the owner of the red, white, and blue "free spirit" bicycle parked outside of the NYU radio station, I feel terrible and am sincerely sorry for backing our van into your ironically bitching ride. I'm sure someday I'll either pay for my crime or make it up to you.

Clayton

Chili in Beantown

Like most tours, ours was preceded by many last minute errands. Before hitting the road I had to register our van in Missouri and get new license plates. On my way back to my car I picked up a life-affirming pork steak (for only $4!) from a stand operated by a father/son team on the corner of Market & Tucker. I took this as a good omen.

Now we are on day 3 of our 13 day tour with Cinemechanica and we already need an oil change.Last night we drove all night from Cleveland to Boston, stopping only for gas and a complementary breakfast at a Holiday Inn Express. We are now taking it easy in Matt & Kristina's apartment. They got married over the summer and we are currently enjoying the wonder of one of the wedding gifts,a kettle corn maker. While I stuff my face, there is a vegetarian chili cooking party going on in the kitchen. Normally I would scoff at the thought of putting cauliflower in chili (AND NO MEAT!) in chili, but it smells too good.

One of most noticeable changes of having Nathan with us is how it is affects our eating habits, since he's vegan. In an effort to accommodate his diet, spend less money, and eat healthier we've been stopping at grocery stores instead of fast food joints. So far it is working out pretty well. I'm eating lots of spinach, but it's only a matter of time before my meat-loving instincts take over and I reach for the biggest rarest cheeseburger(s) I can find.

While refueling in middle-of-nowhere Ohio we actually saw a Truckers Chapel, not unlike the one in Relgulous.

With two shows under our belt it is apparent that following Cinemechanica is one of the biggest challenges we've ever been faced with as a band. For the last two nights they've got on stage and just annihilated. While we can hold our own, they set the bar pretty high. Nathan is holding things down on his side of the stage and has received resounding stamps of approval from people who have been come to our shows for years. He's taken so quickly to our dynamic on and off stage that it's weird to think tonight will only be his seventh show with us.Tomorrow will be his first visit to New York City.